Top story lines to keep an eye on this weekend at TMS
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY STORY LINES
FORT WORTH, Texas — The NASCAR Sprint Cup and Xfinity Series make their 2016 Texas Motor Speedway debut this weekend with back-to-back night races Friday and Saturday.
Here are three story lines to keep an eye on this weekend at TMS:
Texas has become a second home to Johnson’s No. 48 team. He has won three straight races at the track and four of the last five.
He’s been most dominant at the November race, though, so if someone else wants to break through with a win, Saturday night is their chance.
Who might be the driver to break Johnson’s streak?
Kevin Harvick has to be looked at as the most likely candidate, considering his team’s consistently strong performance at 1.5-mile tracks like Texas. Joey Logano was the last driver other than Johnson to win at Texas, back in the spring of 2014.
Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski and Dale Earnhardt Jr. all have strong histories at TMS as well.
There’s a lot of talk this year about the Sprint Cup’s new low-downforce racing package, and the benefits of it at a track like Texas. If you — like most of us — aren’t an aerodynamics expert, here’s what the low downforce package means to you:
The drivers have raved about the new package, saying it allows them much better control of the car, which gives them the opportunity to race side-by-side or pass others more easily.
In addition, Goodyear has developed a tire specifically for the downforce package designed to wear faster — which also creates more passing opportunities, more complex strategizing by crew chiefs and overall, more entertaining racing. 1 p.m.: Gates open 1:45 p.m.: Sprint Cup qualifying 3:45 p.m.: Xfinity Series qualifying 5:30 p.m.: Sprint Cup final practice 7:30 p.m.: Xfinity Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 (TV: FS1) 2 p.m.: Gates open 4:30 p.m.: Loud and Proud Prerace Show featuring Lynyrd Skynyrd
6:30 p.m.: Sprint Cup Duck Commander 500 (TV: KOKH-25)
30 minutes after checkered flag: Postrace show featuring Charlie Robinson
The Chase format has come to the Xfinity Series this year, meaning a win by a full-time Xfinity driver will lock them into the end-of-season playoff.
One problem, no Xfinity driver has won an Xfinity race through five weeks.
Three full-time Cup racers — Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch (three times) — have won the first five Xfinity races.
If someone is going to be the first to lock down a playoff spot, there’s a good chance it could be a Joe Gibbs Racing car. Daniel Suarez is leading the series in points, and Erik Jones is the defending winner of the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300.